Devils sign Joey Anderson

[Daniel]

Doubt he gets in the lineup, but maybe if they’re down 3-0 it’ll give Hynes something to think about.

[Neb00rs]

Interesting. I don't know much about him other than the a few news items that came up during the season. Seems like he under performed this year compared with his freshman season. 

[MadDog2020]

Awesome!


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[Devs3cups]

2 minutes ago, Neb00rs said:

Interesting. I don't know much about him other than the a few news items that came up during the season. Seems like he under performed this year compared with his freshman season. 

I was impressed by his performance at the WJC as USA’s captain this year. He was good from what I’ve read with his team and was a big part in their NCAA championship victory. He’s a legitimate prospect in my opinion. With him, McLeod,  Boqvist and others. I’m really liking our forward prospect pool. Defence on the other hand though doesn’t look as good.

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

Maybe Hynes tries to catch lightning in a bottle...plenty of pun intended. I just don't see why NJ does this without getting him in the lineup for at least one game. Either that or Anderson's agent just bent the Devils over.

[Daniel]

1 minute ago, Jas0nMacIsaac said:

Maybe Hynes tries to catch lightning in a bottle...plenty of pun intended. I just don't see why NJ does this without getting him in the lineup for at least one game. Either that or Anderson's agent just bent the Devils over.

It seems like burning a year of an ELC for NCAA guys who have any amount of upside is becoming the norm.  He would have almost certainly had played in the last game of the season had UMD lost before the Frozen Four.

[LittleBallofHate]

FWIW:  Mike Morreale‏ Verified account @mikemorrealeNHL 

This is awesome. Whenever he does become an NHL regular, Devils fans will love this kid. The motor never stops running.

[Devs3cups]

5 minutes ago, Jas0nMacIsaac said:

Maybe Hynes tries to catch lightning in a bottle...plenty of pun intended. I just don't see why NJ does this without getting him in the lineup for at least one game. Either that or Anderson's agent just bent the Devils over.

Does he lose a year of his ELC if he plays in a game this series? Is it worth it in your opinion? I’m not really familiar with rules regarding ELCs, any cues? 

[Neb00rs]

7 minutes ago, Devs3cups said:

I was impressed by his performance at the WJC as USA’s captain this year. He was good from what I’ve read with his team and was a big part in their NCAA championship victory. He’s a legitimate prospect in my opinion. With him, McLeod,  Boqvist and others. I’m really liking our forward prospect pool. Defence on the other hand though doesn’t look as good.

Yeah, there was a lot of fanfare about him at the WJC. People seemed really high on him.

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

1 minute ago, Devs3cups said:

Does he lose a year of his ELC if he plays in a game this series? Is it worth it in your opinion? I’m not really familiar with rules regarding ELCs, any cues? 

One year is gone already regardless if he plays now.

[Daniel]

I’ve heard comparisons to Palmieri.

[Devs3cups]

11 minutes ago, Jas0nMacIsaac said:

One year is gone already regardless if he plays now.

So he should get a look in the sense that wasting a year would be a little unnecessary. Interesting.

[LittleBallofHate]

I was just thinking about JA this morning, oddly enough. I was hoping he would sign asap, as I don't think he's got much to learn in college. Time to take it to the next level - so happy to see that he signed! Plus he looks like my nephew 

Repost from the Prospects thread: 

Devils Insiders‏ @DevilsInsiders:  2 NCAA Seasons - 2 National Championship Games - 1 National Championship 2 WJCs - 1 gold - 1 bronze (captain) Winner. #NJDevils

[Triumph]

I could see them throwing him in, though it means using Zacha as a PKer (and leaving Grabner in).  I don't see why the Devils would take off a year for no real reason, it's not like he has a ton of leverage.  The only thing I can think is that losing a year means valuing him is harder (which is usually in the team's favor when a player is not arbitration-eligible).

The downside is that now his contract ends the same year as Bratt's and Hischier's.

[Daniel]

5 minutes ago, Kinkyisth3b3st said:

I would doubt they use him at all, he’s just one of the (many) guys that travel with a playoff team. I forget the term for them but Bissionette said basically it’s the best job in the world for a few weeks... travel with the team, scrimmage with the assistant coaches, party in away cities. 

Burning a year off the ELC sucks but there’s a chance we’d lose him ala the Kerfoot / Vesey / Butcher route if we didn’t sign him now. 

It seems like Anderson is not the party animal type.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

1 hour ago, Devs3cups said:

I was impressed by his performance at the WJC as USA’s captain this year. He was good from what I’ve read with his team and was a big part in their NCAA championship victory. He’s a legitimate prospect in my opinion. With him, McLeod,  Boqvist and others. I’m really liking our forward prospect pool. Defence on the other hand though doesn’t look as good.

Shero might dip into that forward prospect pool to improve the D.  I can't see him not addressing that this offseason.  

Will be interesting to see if this kid actually gets time in a playoff game this year.

[Devs3cups]

2 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Shero might dip into that forward prospect pool to improve the D.  I can't see him not addressing that this offseason.  

Will be interesting to see if this kid actually gets time in a playoff game this year.

Yeah for sure. I was mentioning those three guys, but we have toher good forward prospects that Shero could use. Any d prospects you'd be interested in?

[LittleBallofHate]

NHL.com article with some good quotes from Tom Fitzgerald: 

"We talked a lot about a development game plan and where we saw him fitting into our organization," he explained. "I told him, 'Look, we didn't bring Jesper Bratt over this year to play for the New Jersey Devils. We brought him over to play for the London Knights, but he played so well at camp that we just couldn't send him down. He made us better right now. So, we can sit here and make a plan, but depending on how Joey shows up in September, that plan could change pretty quickly, but he will have every opportunity to make our team and if he needs more time to develop, the American Hockey League is a great place to do that.'

"He just has a drive to do the hard work," he said. "You don't ever have to ask him. He just does it and does a really good job at it, winning those 50/50 puck battles, and then he's got some real good skill in tight areas to be able to generate something out of it, but his compete is top of the list for us. He's a self-starter. He doesn't need anyone to get him going and we know he's going to bring that effort every day whether that's at practice, in the weight room or in a game."

"I think it will be a great experience for him to be here and get a taste of the NHL and help drive his summer training," Fitzgerald said. "No one wants to burn a year off a contract, but we were willing to do that because we feel we've got a real good player in him. If he comes at a bigger price tag in two years because he's that good of a player, that's a great problem to have."

https://www.nhl.com/devils/news/2018-ncaa-national-champion-joey-anderson-joins-the-devils/c-298014468

[thefiestygoat]

I'm happy to see the Devils sign Anderson, though I would've had no problem if he went back to college for one more year. You could say his recent season was a bit underwhelming but he did play injured early on and even missed 6 straight games in November. After returning from that he had 24 points in 28 games. I really like this kid's game though, two-way winger, loves to go into the dirty areas and battle, has solid offensive instincts to help set up his teammates. I think he'll be a solid player for the Devils.

[Derlique]

Really don't think he's gonna break the bank in two year's time like Nico will. And if he does, that's good news. Hopefully he'll be our 3rw next year. God knows we don't need the Staffords or Bennetts of the world anymore 

[nessus]

I feel really good about Anderson. One thing about him is that even though he's advertised as a gritty power forward, he's got a lot more to his game. Good skater with a lot of speed, very good hockey IQ - you can see him reading plays before other guys and he really seems to know how to find the right area for passes/rebounds/anticipating turnovers. He doesn't play the fanciest game ever, but he'll sneak in a few really slick passes here and there.

I haven't seen much of Boqvist yet, but at least until I do, Anderson is my favorite prospect in the Devils' system.

[LittleBallofHate]

Devils Insiders Retweeted  Duluth News Tribune‏ @duluthnews   

College men's hockey: Bulldogs' Joey Anderson leaving early, signs with NHL's Devils  https://trib.al/PehKxWj

"It was one of those things that just felt right," Anderson said of turning pro. "We looked at the pros and cons and everything. At the end of the day, I had a gut feeling about this. It's where I wanted to be. That made the decision for me."

[Neb00rs]

6 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Shero might dip into that forward prospect pool to improve the D.  I can't see him not addressing that this offseason.  

Will be interesting to see if this kid actually gets time in a playoff game this year.

Given that Nico looks like a star and that it seems like Zajac has a couple more years left in the tank as a 2nd/3rd line center after all, I can't see the Devils moving forward with both McLeod and Zacha knowing that one of them could be packaged to bring D back. Though, I suppose either of the two could end up in the AHL next year.

[nessus]

15 hours ago, Kinkyisth3b3st said:

No mention of McLeod?

I actually am slightly higher on Anderson than McLeod at the moment, as ridiculous as that may sound. I think that McLeod has all the tools, but still a lot to prove. He consistently comes up big in the playoffs, which is nice, but he wasn't all that great during his OHL regular season this year. The same could be said about his World Juniors performance. Also, I don't know about anyone else, but I haven't seen much in preseason from him either, though that's only from watching scrimmages. And these are all examples that could be explained by other factors, but he also hasn't really blown anyone away since playing in Bing. On the other hand, Anderson was a key player for his team that won the national championship, plus he captained the World Juniors US team. Anyway, I hope McLeod finds his groove soon and I'm wrong to criticize his performance so far.

As far as Anderson signing here now, I wonder if he/his agent had some leverage. How likely is it that the agent said, "Joey will sign here now, or finish college"? Not sure if that's a real possibility, since I'm not very familiar with these situations.

[Daniel]

15 hours ago, Neb00rs said:

Given that Nico looks like a star and that it seems like Zajac has a couple more years left in the tank as a 2nd/3rd line center after all, I can't see the Devils moving forward with both McLeod and Zacha knowing that one of them could be packaged to bring D back. Though, I suppose either of the two could end up in the AHL next year.

McLeod can play the wing (RW I think).  Plus I don't think either of their trade value is so great right now.  I had thought that Zacha could be one of those guys who a few GMs would covet notwithstanding the lack of point production.  But he was really unimpressive this year in that regard (only 8 goals) and he never had the opportunity to dominate the AHL as a 20 year old to more clearly show that the scoring potential is there.  So you really really have to be going on the eye test to want to trade for him, which is highly unlikely.  I mean, if you were a fan of another team, would you want to give up a legit top pairing defensemen where Zacha and a first are the main pieces? 

Similarly, McLeod didn't dominate the OHL as a two year overager like you would hope.